Delegation : Basic Managerial Skills; V3 Issue 3

/

Delegation typically is the assignment of authority and responsibility by a manager to his/her subordinate to carry out specific activities. The manager remains accountable for the outcome of the delegated work. Delegation empowers the subordinate to make decisions. As a manager, delegating allows you to concentrate on things that you believe require your personal knowledge/skill and helps you raise your subordinate’s level of knowledge/skill.

Tips for Effective Delegation

  •  Select the right person for the job. The person should be qualified to deliver the results or experience learning from taking on this task which the company can draw on at a later time.
  •  Explain the reasons: Why is the job being delegated. Why to that person? What is its importance and relevance? Where does it fit in the overall scheme of things? What's in it for him/her?
  •  Delegate the entire job to one person and give them full authority: This will heighten the individual's interest in the project and provide a deeper sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when the task is completed. Although the ultimate responsibility lies with you, when you delegate something to someone, be sure that others know that you've given the responsibility and authority to that individual, and that he/she is accountable for producing the result.
  •     Focus on results: When assigning a project, allow the person to develop the methodology for how to achieve the goal. Focus on what you want, not how to do it. That way the individual feels a greater sense of ownership for achieving the results.
  •     Involve the person while delegating: Don't do all the talking. Encourage subordinate’s suggestions and comments. Instead of just asking "Do you understand?", ask questions such as, "Any ideas as to how you'll proceed?" etc. State required results and establish deadlines, parameters, conditions and terms before you delegate: 
  •       What must be achieved? Explain what success looks like so he/she has a clear picture of what you want to accomplish. Make sure they know how you will decide that the job is being successfully done. Don't leave due dates uncertain or open-ended. State parameters etc up front and do not impose controls after you've delegated.
  •     Periodically review: Keep track of the status of the project without micromanaging. Ask the person to report progress on specific dates you've agreed upon.
  •     Give positive and corrective feedback: While reviewing focus on what is right and what can be done to improve.
  •     Provide the resources required: Provide finance, use of technology tools, access to any knowledge base, necessary manpower resources etc.
  •     Offer guidance and advice without interfering: Point out potential roadblocks that they may encounter like unpredictable market or a slow to respond vendor etc.
  •     Don't let them delegate back to you: If your subordinate brings a problem to you, you can listen without assuming responsibility for solving the problem. He/she may ask you for your suggestions. You should instead ask for his/her suggestions first before making any of yours.
  •     Provide back-up and support when necessary: It could be in the form of making a discreet phone call to someone involved who is not cooperating with the person, standing in for him/her when he is tied up with something else etc.
  •     Give full credit and recognition to the person who gets the job done: Don't take the credit yourself. But if the person is unsuccessful in delivering, absorb the consequences of failure yourself.

Pygmalion Effect : Management Funda; V3 Issue 3

/

In an interesting study researchers looked at 12 separate research studies involving employees and their supervisors from different work settings, a total of 2,874 participants. Each study randomly assigned employees to two groups.

Supervisors were told that one group of employees had considerably greater potential thus creating a positive attitude among supervisors about one group of employees who were basically no different from other group of employees. Result? With only two exceptions employees in the former group responded with greater productivity. This was because of the Pygmalion Effect.

What is Pygmalion Effect and how did it originate?
Pygmalion Effect is essentially the power of others’ expectations. Positive expectations produce positive results and vice-versa. Typically every supervisor has expectations of the people who report to him and these expectations get communicated consciously or unconsciously. When people perceive expectations about their performance from their supervisors they perform in ways that are consistent with the expectations they have picked up.

J. Sterling Livingston, wrote on the Pygmalion Effect in the ‘Harvard Business Review’ in his article, ‘Pygmalion in Management’, "The way managers treat their subordinates is subtly influenced by what they expect of them," and that unskilled supervisors "leave scars on the careers of young workers, cut deeply into their self-esteem, and distort their image of themselves as human beings. But if he is skillful and has high expectations of his subordinates, their self-confidence will grow, their capabilities will develop and their productivity will be high. " 

This concept has its roots in Greek mythology, when Pygmalion, a sculptor and prince of Cyprus made a statue of his ideal woman, whom he called Galatea, which came to life. The story was also the basis of George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion”, later turned into the musical “My Fair Lady”. In Shaw’s play, Professor Henry Higgins claims he can take a flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, and turn her into a duchess. But, as Eliza herself points out to Higgins’ friend Pickering, it is not what she learns or does that determines whether she will become a duchess, but how she is treated.

 

Pygmalion Effect was initially successfully demonstrated by Robert Rosenthal, a Harvard University professor, and Leonore Jacobson, a school principal in a publication called ‘Pygmalion in the Classroom’. At the beginning of the school year, they gave an intelligence test to all students at an elementary school. Then, they randomly selected 20% of the students without actually relying on their test results. Their teachers were told that those students showed "unusual potential for intellectual growth." Eight months later, they retested all the students. The 20% labled as having "unusual potential" showed significantly greater advancement than other children not singled out for the teachers' attention


Using the Pygmalion effect to get the best of people

Firstly reflect on what kind of expectations do you have from each of your team member. Determine what are the fundamental beliefs about people that you hold. There are some fundamental beliefs about people that help managers have a high performance expectation of their subordinates. They are…..

  •    Most people want to do a good job
  •    Most people can be trusted to do the right thing
  •    Most people, given the same information, will reach the same conclusion
  •    People are natural goal setters and achievers
  •    Most people will accept change

Knowing this can help you understand why you tend to have high or low expectations. Work towards changing those beliefs that prevent you from having high expectations of others. Next look at how do you communicate these expectations. Subtle communications from the manager like the tilting of heads, the raising of eye brows or the dilation of nostrils and not so subtle communications as listed below tell the employee what the expectations are.

Some examples of how managers communicate their expectations

Are you unwittingly communicating low expectations to people? If yes, gradually change the way you behave with such people.

Finally understand that people’s expectations of themselves also affect their performance. This is called the Galatea Effect. Employees who think they will succeed are most likely to succeed. So it goes without saying that any actions the supervisor takes to increase the employee's feelings of positive self-worth will help the employee's performance improve. Let’s look at some of the ways in which you can encourage positive, powerful self-expectations in employees.

   The best part of having positive performance expectation from their team members is that a team leader can even
     create a positive Galatea Effect i.e. Pygmalion Effect can cause Galatea Effect. Hold frequent, positive verbal
     interactions with the employee and communicate consistently your firm belief in the employee's ability to perform
     the job. Keep feedback positive and constructive.

 

  • Provide opportunities for the employee to experience increasingly challenging assignments.
  • Make sure he/she succeeds at each level before moving forward.
  • Enable the employee to participate in potentially successful projects that bring continuous improvement to the workplace.
  • Focus on the strengths. In a one-to-one coaching with employees emphasize improving what they do well rather than focusing on their weaknesses. Help them apply their strengths in ways that contribute positively to the organization.
  • Make sure the employee is receiving consistent messages from others around him/her. How you speak to others about him/her will mould their opinions about the person.
  • Demonstrate your sincere commitment to the employee's success and ongoing development.

Conclusion

The bottom line is both Pygmalion Effect and Galatea Effect can be powerful performance management tools. Your expectations of your people and their expectations of themselves are the key factors in how well they will perform at work. So believe in your team members. More often than not, they will meet or exceed your expectations. You just make sure that the expectations are high.


 

References

 

Employee Speak: Ankit Patel, CEO, Ankit Fasteners; V3 Issue 3

/

1. In 2007 Ankit Fasteners received the Society of Aerospace Manufacturing Engineers (SAME) National Governing Council Gold Medal award? What factors contributed to Ankit Fasteners winning this prestigious award?

 

SAME set up to coordinate with all companies in the aerospace industry, is promoted by ISRO and VSSC (Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre). Our relationship with VSSC started way back in 1991 when we started Ankit Fasteners. Ankit Fasteners has played a major role in indigenization which was a major national requirement in mid-nineties especially in the context of nuclear blasts and a lot of sanctions that were required. Overtime ISRO has become completely self-reliant in fasteners which even though are small value items, have always faced critical bottlenecks.

 

The efforts put in by the entire Ankit Group during the last 15 years have been remarkable. I think the following factors helped us win this award.

  • We are pioneers in the country for aluminium rivet manufacturing.
  • We use Russian alloy. Russian markets are difficult to penetrate on account of language disparity etc.
  • We make Alloy steel fasteners for which we import material from France.
  • We have been competitive as far as price is concerned.
  • We offer time advantage. Manufacturing lead time that used to be close to 12-18 months way back in mid-nineties when ISRO used to import fasteners has come down to 3 months.
  •  

All this was only possible due to the efforts and leadership of my father and the continuous employee support.

2. For organizations typically to achieve good results they need to develop execution excellence across the organization. Considering the growth that Ankit Fasteners has had despite recession, would you say this has been so in your company too?

 

Yes you are absolutely right! Even if a company has a robust goal setting process at the senior level, what is important is the execution across the company. In our case despite recession few good things helped us going and reach where we are today. We picked up a good industry and have always maintained good choice of products. We have some solid customers like ISRO. We lay strong emphasis on Continuous Improvement Process. Our business strategy has always been to not run behind low margin businesses. Despite taking a cost conscious decision like downsizing, our net sales have gone up by 10%. Financially not being a leveraged company helped us during recession.

3. An important managerial skill is ensuring execution excellence. According to you what is execution excellence?

 

What I have tried to do here is break down goals into targets / milestones. We have completed a detailed KRA setting exercise this year for all employees. At Ankit we have 20 performance measures like Sales, Customer service, Rejections etc to meet our 3 values namely Customer satisfaction, People focus and Safety. In a month where we meet targets our score becomes 1 and failure to meet makes it. So the ratings help us get a clear picture of where the company is heading. That according to me is an execution excellence wish list that management across companies possesses.

4. What programs and initiatives do you have in place at Ankit for leading, supporting and encouraging effective execution by your team?

 

Our focus on stringent Continuous Improvement (CI) programs ensures that each employee undertakes CI projects and CI training programs which help them evolve as effective executors. We also have mandatory training programs. Each employee is ideally required to go through 3 hours of monthly training i.e. 36 hours of annual training. By this we ensure that our human assets appreciate in terms of performance quality and flawless execution

5. What are the challenges you foresee for your company in the coming years? What are the key managerial skills that you want your managers to develop given these challenges?

 

We definitely need human resources to take us ahead in our growth path. Currently we do a lot of external hiring. The challenge here, especially in senior level hiring is the time taken for the new hires to internalize and adjust with the organizational culture. I would prefer building a system where in we can identify and facilitate movement of employees to bigger roles and expanded job responsibilities. Our middle management needs to improve their people management skills – communication of expectations and ability to set goals. We have some good resources at the junior level, but they expect a fast track growth. Their attitude is that of biting more than they can chew. We can probably look at identifying few good resources and training them meticulously to fit into the middle management role.

6. To meet the external and internal challenges of a changing world, managers need to develop their capacity to lead. At Ankit how would you like to build this capacity in your managers?

 

Firstly we believe that every manager should be held accountable for self and the team. This inculcates responsibility amongst team managers towards the team.

 

Secondly we encourage functional managers’ inputs and active participation in the recruitment process. If the individuals hired fit into the expected skills set then we can ensure a healthy organization in terms of skill building.We are also planning to organize technical development programs once we reach a certain headcount because we believe that managers need to be abreast of new technological innovations which can then result in knowledge sharing. The lesser you work more work gets done. The key to this is to hire good people who would work for you and help the organization grow.

7. Personally how do you ensure that you continuously develop yourself as a leader and as a manager?

 

I make it a point to attend the mandatory company training programs because I feel that in order to be a successful leader you must be one amongst the team and always accessible to your team members. I always read up on new technological advancements and new manufacturing processes. When you yourself are well informed and aware of the happenings, you can add value to your team members as well. I attend seminars wherein I can interact with fellow entrepreneurs and take their inputs. We have much older board members. I look at them as my mentors and they help me a lot with their experience. As a leader I also believe in following my instincts.

EXECUTION : The Discipline of Getting Things Done: Book Review; V3 Issue 3

/

 Title: EXECUTION : The Discipline of Getting Things Done
 Author: Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan with Charles Burck
 Publication details: 2002, Random House
 Number of pages: 269 pages

 

Most business strategies fail because they were not executed well. But what does it really take to execute well? Let Larry Bossidy, one of the world's most acclaimed CEOs (of Allied Signal and Honeywell International) and Ram Charan, a legendary advisor to senior executives and boards of directors, tell you. In their book Execution they argue that a leader’s most important job is execution. Execution closes the gap between results promised and delivered. They criticize the overly hands-off approach of leaders who see execution as the tactical side of the business, something they can delegate, while they focus on the bigger picture. Without advocating micro-management, they promote senior management’s focus on developing an execution culture.

The book demonstrates how organizations such as GE, Wal-Mart and Colgate-Palmolive have been able to reach and even exceed goals by successfully integrating three core processes of people, strategy and operations. Bossidy asserts that the job of selecting and appraising people, particularly top executives, should never be delegated. At Honeywell, as the CEO Bossidy personally made calls to check references for key hires and approved important promotions and transfers. A great strategy comes together only after robust debate among key executives and not after just a presentation of PowerPoint slides. It should be in sync with the realities of the marketplace, the economy and the competition reflecting both the company's organizational capabilities and describing how the company can expand its capabilities to meet challenges. A good operating plan breaks down long-term goals into short-term targets. These should reflect not what happened last year, but what realistically can be achieved in the future. Again, a discussion on how and even whether you can get the desired results, is a must.

The authors have a view on many aspects of a business. For instance they feel that people processes should be forward looking, evaluating people against the requirements of the future rather than looking at today’s requirements. Or that corporate level strategy being the vehicle for allocating resources among business units, should not just be a sum of those parts. The book contains a lot of wisdom like “When the leader discusses issues in a group setting everybody learns.” and “Many sizable businesses spend weeks or months preparing their budgets. This is unnecessary, and a great waste of time.”

Through case studies, checklists, detailed and interesting examples, Bossidy and Charan suggest ways organizations can improve the way they execute. There is case study to highlight the problem of strategies that are intellectually appealing but which the organization is incapable of implementing. When AT&T acquired several cable companies their strategy made sense but the management did not have the ability to run them. The ‘Leader's Essential Behaviours’ check list contain behaviours such as ‘Know Your People and Your Business, Insist on Realism, Set Clear Goals and Priorities, Follow Through, Reward the Doers, Expand People's Capabilities through Coaching and Know Yourself’. Conducting a Strategy Review and Leadership and Retention Assessments are demonstrated with detailed live examples. An interesting example of people process is the GE’s ‘diamonds in the rough’ initiative. People of substance who do not have the polish of their peers and might get overlooked or are struggling in current jobs say because of a bad boss, are moved to better environments where they can grow.

While many stories are of senior management, the suggestions work just as well for all levels of management especially if you want to be an effective leader. For example the suggestions for dealing with non performers, challenging the assumptions of a plan and conducting an effective meeting are of value to managers at all levels. Developing the discipline of execution isn't made out to be simple and you will need to read this book many times to capture the multiple layers of messages. Write in the margins, underline, and annotate to internalize the lessons better. These lessons will certainly make you better at your job.

Managing to Leading : Feature Article; V3 Issue 3

/

Are you currently leading your team members or managing them? Should you lead them or manage them? I think before we attempt to answer all these questions we need to understand the difference between leading and managing. The debate on whether there is a difference between being a leader and manager has been raging for years now. Most agree that there is definitely a difference.

Difference between a Leader and a Manager

In ‘What Leaders Really Do’, John P. Kotter states, "Management and leadership both involve deciding what needs to be done, creating networks of people to accomplish the agenda, and ensuring that the work actually gets done. Their work is complementary, but each system of action goes about the tasks in different ways."

FA snip 1.JPG

An important distinction is that while people are required to follow managers, they choose to follow leaders. So while people work for managers because they are supposed to as part of their job description, people work for leaders because he or she inspires them. The life of Alexander the Great illustrates this difference. Though he was a great leader, Alexander was a lousy manager. His hatred of bureaucracy and his need for excitement prevented him from building a governmental machine of systems, accountabilities, and procedures. Consequently, his legendary empire disintegrated immediately upon his death. Not once in the following fifteen hundred years did the Romans have a leader who could fill the shadow of Alexander the Great. Yet their system for management held the Roman Empire together decade after decade, century after century, even when some incompetent leaders imposed stupid decisions on their people. Marcus Buckingham, in ‘The One Thing You Need to Know About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success’, defines leadership as follows: "… is that ability to form a vision of a better future and then to explain that vision so effectively that the leader is followed." 

Warren Bennis, in his book ‘On Becoming a Leader’ … describes his view of the differences between managers and leaders as “To manage means to bring about, to accomplish, to have charge of or responsibility for, to conduct. Leading is influencing, guiding in a direction, course, action, opinion.” Richard Daft added a few more to the first 12 differences mentioned by Warren Bennis in the following table.

As you can see it is more difficult to play the role of a leader than a manager. So what should one be? Should one be a Leader or a Manager?

There was a time when managing and leading could be separated. But in the knowledge economy, where value comes increasingly from the knowledge of people, management and leadership cannot be easily separated. People expect their managers to define for them a purpose and not just to assign them a task. And managers must manage employees, not just to maximize efficiency, but to nurture skills, develop talent and inspire results. With the rise of the knowledge worker, “one does not ‘manage’ people,” Peter Drucker wrote. “The task is to lead people. And the goal is to make productive the specific strengths and knowledge of every individual". I suggest you work on becoming a good manager first. Most leaders evolve after being managers; they start by being good managers and work towards being good leaders. That is what you should also be doing.

 

Transitioning from being a Manager to being a Leader

Now comes the tough part of actually becoming a good leader. Here are some tips to help you make that transition from being a manager to a leader.

 Know and formally learn what a leader does: Understanding the difference between being an effective manager and an effective leader will help you understand what you must focus on doing. Attend leadership workshops and classes. They can give you new ideas or help you develop specific skills. Pick classes that add tangible value to you. Sometimes the value could be the relationships you establish with other participants. Read history and the biographies of leaders to see how they did things. Read relevant business magazines and books to know what your industry leaders are doing differently that you can emulate.

 

   Leave the management to others: Ensure managing is done by others so that you are free to spend time leading. You can divide the management responsibility among different team members. So while you make one person in charge of the planning and budgeting, another could be made in charge of monitoring quality etc. This also means that you will have to coach your team members to be good managers. Though you need not now control everything, be prepared to still do some amount of managing when the need arises.

 

   Learn from others: If so far you have been emulating role models who are great mangers, then it’s time for you to find good role models in leadership. When faced with a leadership problem, ask yourself how your role models would handle the situation. Discuss your leadership problems with them. People who have been bosses for a while have had to deal with many leadership situations. Adapt their advice to your situation and your personal style. Also find a good mentor who can guide you in sorting out your leadership challenges.

 

   Develop the key characteristics of true leader: Everything else will fall in place. Work towards becoming….

 

      A visionary: While managers handle the day-to-day activities of a business, leaders have a bird's-eye view on industry indicators and market trends to see where their businesses are going in the next six months to one year.

      A planner:Leaders are able to take what they see from that bird's-eye view and translate it into a business plan that reflects market conditions and gets results.

      A collaborator: Leaders know they need help, and they cannot do everything alone. And really good leaders are able to identify, recruit and collaborate with people and other organizations that can add value to their business.

      An enabler:Great leaders enable their employees to reach and achieve more by getting them what they need to do their jobs.

      A motivator:When your team members feel they own their job, they reach new heights of achievement and motivation. And leaders are able to get everyone to accept personal responsibility to get their jobs done well.

 

   Seek feedback on how you are doing as a leader: Develop a plan on what leadership skills you intend to develop and by when. Review your progress against this plan. Good feedback is essential to efficient and effective growth. Ask your boss, your peers and your team how you're doing and how you can do better. Critique your own performance every time you take a significant leadership action. Ask yourself what you wanted to accomplish, what you did, and how things came out. Determine what you will repeat and what you will do differently next time.

Conclusion

While you can learn 20 percent about leadership in the classroom and from books, the rest 80 percent, you need to learn on the job. So it is important that you volunteer for assignments that give you opportunities to lead. Or start leading in your current role as a manager. Mr. Buckingham states that "The starting points are different. The talents required to excel at each are different." When you want to manage, begin with the person. When you want to lead, begin with the picture of where you are headed. Managing is about coping with complexity. Leadership, by contrast, is about coping with change. Leaders aren't made or born. Leadership is a choice and a belief. Choose to be a leader and believe you can be one.


 

References

 

   ‘Leader V/S Manager’, Wednesday, March 28, 2007

   What is the Difference Between Management and Leadership?

   Geno, ‘20 Differences Between Management & Leadership

   Sterling, W.A, ‘Leader-Manager: Is there a difference?

   Corcoran ,B, ‘Shed the Manager Role and Become a Leader’, Aug. 10, 2009,

   Bock,W, ‘Leadership Tips’

Ask the Expert: V3 Issue 2

/

1. As a Department Leader I find that my team members even though empowered to do so, leave all the decision making to me and this sometimes results in unnecessary delay.  How do I address this problem?

Empowerment can facilitate team development but can be a failure if not introduced correctly. It is critical that …

  • You know what you wish to achieve through empowering team members: For instance you may want to increase sales or customer satisfaction or operational efficiency.

  • You ensure your team members fully understand what is expected of them: For example how much authority will they have to sanction customer refunds and replacements.

Next review how you have empowered your team members. Typically empowerment not only means “giving of authority” but also “making able”.  Check if your team members have the ability to exercise the authority given to them. If not make them capable before kicking off the empowerment process. Training in problem solving and decision making, will help them make sounder judgments. If the members of your team are capable of doing more in terms of problem solving and decision making and would enjoy taking on additional responsibilities then plan how to begin the empowerment process along with your team members. Ensure you have thorough knowledge of each team member’s skills and the tasks they perform in their current role before agreeing upon SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time bound) empowerment objectives.  Rewards for the team must also be agreed upon at the planning stage. It can be in the form of praise, bonus or salary increases.

Conduct periodic reviews to determine whether the objectives are being achieved and assess the benefits team has obtained. Do team members experience greater job satisfaction because they need less supervision and enjoy stronger support from their peers and colleagues? Do you have more time to plan for the future or work on strategic initiatives? Is there an improvement in the speed of decision making? Do not be disheartened by an initial failure. Discuss with your team and identify what went wrong and how it can be put right. Your objectives or timelines may have been too ambitious or there might be an unidentified training need or lack of motivation.

Be prepared for the change in your role on account of empowering your team. You must focus more on developing people, articulating the team mission, creating a climate of risk taking, providing appropriate resources, ensuring effective two way communication and promoting openness and cooperation across the team.

 

 2. I have team members in my team who are demonstrating different levels of performance. How best should I manage each set of performers and what support should I extend to them to ensure each group delivers to their potential?

 

Yes, you are absolutely right in saying that different types of performers need to be handled differently. There are basically three categories of performers. 80 percent of employees demonstrate average performance by meeting their goals. 10 percent of employees are excellent, demonstrated by consistently exceeding their goals. The remaining 10 percent of employees are at the bottom, reflected through regularly failing to meet their defined goals. Let’s look at how you need to raise each set's performance levels differently.

  • Coaching the top 10%: Your star performers don’t need much help in achieving their goals. But you must focus on harnessing their productive energies. Discover their motivations and tap into applying their talent in ways that will enhance their contribution to the organization. For instance, you might select your top 10 customer service agents and have them design the customer service training. Or you might make them mentors to new joinees. You need to create a win-win situation for them and the organization.

  • Managing the middle 80%: Within this group, some have the potential to be star performers. Your attempt should be identify such people and help reach their potential. The performance conversation for this group should focus on understanding the barriers inhibiting them from moving to the next level of performance. By diagnosing the barriers, you can develop mutually beneficial solutions to maximize their job performance. You must facilitate the removal of these barriers and assist the team members toward consistently achieving their goals. If the team member is asking questions, sincerely wanting to improve and has had some success, do continue to mentor and train them. Do your best in giving the person every opportunity to be successful.

  • Improving the bottom 10%: Your approach for this set of team members should be to have a performance improvement plan. The plan should include specific goals, with due dates and measurable outcomes. It should also be made clear that if they don’t achieve the goals, there will be consequences viz., continuation of the plan, suspension or termination. Alternatively assess the poor performer’s’ strengths, weaknesses and personality to see if he/she is better fit for another role. A creative person might not be a good fit for sales but can become a star performer in product management. You need to be open, flexible, innovative and supportive with such team members.

You can provide recognition to even a poor performer when he/she achieves the goals set in his/her improvement plan. But basically provide positive feedback to all team members when they achieve their specific goals to keep them motivated and engaged.

 

3. I lead a team of front office representatives. One of the representatives does not listen to me and takes every issue for resolution to my manager instead of coming to me or working with her other team members? My manager has clearly told her that she reports to me and needs to talk to me. But the officer is still escalating matters to my manager. How can I deal with this situation?

 

There are two things happening here. Your team member is not following the team norms and your manager is undermining your ability to lead. Clearly what the manager has told this team member has not had any effect. You need your manager’s support and help in dealing with both the problems.

 

Begin by holding a discussion with your manager. Ascertain your authority level in the department. Between the two of you figure out the reasons for the team member’s behavior and try addressing the root cause. It could be her not having accepted you as a team leader because she feels she herself is a senior member. In that case you could look at involving her more in team decisions etc. But basically both you and the manager need to decide on a plan of action to deal with this employee. Also agree upon what actions of this team member are unacceptable and the consequences for the same.

 

Next hold a discussion with this team member. Share the details of the consequences that will occur if she demonstrates certain behaviors as you and your manager have laid out in your plan. Explain to her that her behavior is going to determine the next steps in her career. Ideally the manager should not hold another discussion with her and in future should direct all her queries and issues for resolution to you. Stick to the plan of action agreed upon with the manager and regularly review progress.

 

Finally you need to also help this team member integrate with other team members. You can hold a meeting of all the team members to discuss how your department is dependent on all of you in achieving common goals. Highlight the strengths of each of team member and how you would like to leverage those strengths to make your department the best.

Belbin Team Roles : Management Funda; V3 Issue 2

/

After the success of ‘Team Chandrayaan’, ISRO Chief Madhavan Nair mentioned in one of his interviews that the team’s success was not because the team comprised of brilliant individuals. So if not individual brilliance what made them succeed? I would say definitely the right mix of team members, among other things! Would you like to achieve this mix in your team? One way to do this is by using the ‘Belbin Team Roles’ model.

 

What are the Belbin Team Roles

Over several years, Meredith Belbin and his research team at Henley Management College, England, studied the behavior of managers from world over observing that people in teams tend to assume different team roles.  A ‘Team Role’ is “a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way". Their research identified nine distinctive team roles known as the ‘Belbin Team Roles’ as underlying the success of teams. The following table summarizes the same.

Some points to remember are…

  • The nature of team assignment determines the ideal team composition. If the assignment must be finished very fast, then one needs strong Shapers and Finishers. If the assignment is related to development of new products, then one needs more Resource Investigators, Plants and Specialists.  Typically to achieve the best balance, there should be…

    • A Coordinator or Shaper (not both) for leader.
    • A Plant to stimulate ideas.

    • A Monitor Evaluator to ensure honesty and clarity.

    • One or more Implementer, Team Worker, Resource Investigator or Completer Finisher to make things happen.

  • One’s behavior and interpersonal style within a team is to some extent dependent on the situation. It relates not only to ones’ own natural working style, but also to the interrelationships with others, and the work being done. A person may behave and interact quite differently in different teams or when the membership or work of the team changes.

  • Belbin team roles represent tasks and functions in managing the team, activities and are not personality types or thinking preferences.

  • While one may have ideal and preferred team roles, it does not mean one cannot or should not assume other roles. A team member can even adopt more than one role if the number of team members is less than nine.

 

Benefits of using the Belbin Team Roles Model

By understanding your team role within a particular team, you can develop your strengths and manage your weaknesses as a team member, and thus improve your contribution to the team.

As the team leader you can use the model to balance team roles before a project starts. Ensure that each needed role in the team can actually be performed by somebody and is assigned to somebody. Teams can be unbalanced if all team members assume the same team roles. Say there are too many Shapers in the team. Each Shaper will want to pull the team in a different direction weakening the team in the process. The good news is well balanced teams are less risk-bearing and typically will require less of your management attention.

You can use also use the model to identify reasons for and manage interpersonal differences within an existing team. Use your analysis of your team as a guide in developing your team's strengths, and managing its weaknesses.

Steps in analyzing your team using the Belbin Team Roles model

  1. Observe how each of your team members contribute and behave with other team members.

  2. Against each team member list down key strengths, weaknesses and characteristics observed.

  3. Compare each person's listed strengths and weakness with Belbin's descriptions of team roles, and determine the one that most accurately describes that person.

  4. Next to identify potential weakness, areas of conflict and missing strengths ask yourself questions like… “Which team roles/strengths are missing from your team?” “Is there a prevalent team role that many of the team members share?”, “What are the potential areas of conflict?”

  5. Consider the options you have to improve as a team. For instance is it possible for a team member to improve how he/she works with others to avoid potential conflict of their natural styles or can new skills be added to the team through addition of new team members to address potential weaknesses.

 

Conclusion

The Belbin Team Role model is used by over 40 percent of the top 100 companies in the UK, the United Nations, the World Bank and thousands of organizations throughout the world to enhance individual and team performance.

Now you may be thinking that while individuals are likely to excel when given a role that exploits their strengths, it is not always possible to do so. You may have to deliver through the team members you already have. However, an understanding of the required team roles will help your team members to contribute in a manner that improves the effectiveness of the team. And that is where you as their team leader can help. Of course don’t forget to also ensure the presence of the other factors that are equally important in getting a team to perform at its best. And undoubtedly you will have a winning team to successfully launch your own Chandrayaan.

 

References

  • Watson B, ‘An Introduction to Belbin Team Roles’, http://www.housing.sc.edu/rsl/pdf/Training/Students/Week2ReadingBelbinSt.pdf.
  • ‘Belbin's Team Roles’, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_83.htm.
  • ‘Belbin's Ream Roles’,http://changingminds.org/explanations/preferences/belbin.htm.
  • ‘Belbin's Team Roles’, http://www.12manage.com/methods_belbin_team_roles.html.
  • ‘Belbin Team Roles’, http://www.leadershipsolutions.co.nz/belbin.cfm.

Employee Speak: Name: Sunil Lulla, Director & Group Chief Executive Officer, Alva Brothers Entertainment, Miditech: V3 Issue 2

/

1.  Your leadership has acted as a catalyst for the success of TV channels such as MTV, Sony and Times Now.  What was your success mantra for these channels?

I would not say it is my leadership or a mantra. I happened to work with some very smart people, good companies, great business partners and clients. The fortuitous mix clicked. I have passionately followed a few diktats and shared them at the cost of sounding old fashioned.

  • Dream and follow your own dreams. Set the rules, own the game. Win !
  • God is in the details and atheists don’t survive to be successful.
  • Don’t just work hard. Work harder. Eventually the other guy just gets tired.

 

2.  An old adage says “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.  What made you launch the ‘Real’ channel during difficult times? 

Well you don’t choose tough times. But one cannot remain “pregnant” for long either. So we thought why waste a recession. It is easier to make market entry under such circumstances. However it also makes the revenue climb steeper. Tough times test you and makes one tougher. In the case of REAL, the channel was ready to roll and given its differentiated offering we wanted to take it ahead.

 

3.  People make companies. How do you energize and motivate your team in these challenging times?

I try and inspire people to think differently; challenge their own expectations. Make sure they eat well. I am a walking, wondering, doing kind of manager. Encouraging, pushing, making them laugh. (Ask them, I would like to know what they honestly think). Making friends, but being tough when needed.

 

4.  How do you get different teams or for that matter even different people to work together in synergy?

Understand their dreams and give them a common one to chase. High enough to stretch and close enough to reach out too. Involve their passion and their strengths. I do not ask people what their weaknesses are, as you don’t pay to work on their weaknesses. Team players are more important – but you always need the one solo maverick to score the goal. Noah’s Ark of complementary differences is a great example.

 

5.   In the course of your career you would have worked with many teams. What do you feel contributed to the success of the best teams you have worked with?

Pressure to be innovative and the genuine respect and care people have for other members of the team. Their belief in the goal has made them stronger.

 

6.  What hampered the productivity of the other teams that were not that successful?

Deafness – not listening to the wind that is whispering in one’s ear, all the time. 

 

7.  What are some of the things you typically do to motivate your team to deliver exceptional results?

Create an experience for them. It’s not 9 to 5 – it’s the joy of creating something magical and being applauded for it.

 

8.  What message would you like to share with our readersto enable them to build teams with greater commitment to the team objectives and more contributionto the company?

Don’t copy anyone’s style. Yours is great. Just practice it with honesty and originality.

Word Jumble: Activity Corner; V3 Issue 2

/

To determine the answer to the following question solve the word jumbles and use the letters marked in bold in each of the jumbled word. All the jumbled words are team related words.

What did the team leader tell his new team member about working in his team?

AC 2.JPG

SOLUTIONS:

Scoring direction to “Word Jumble ”

  1. Virtual  
  2. Empowerment
  3. Praise   
  4. Synergy               
  5. Ego                        
  6. Goals    
  7. Collaborate
  8. Kinship

                                
"It's about teamwork."

FISH! : Book Review; V3 Issue 2

/

Title: FISH!

Authors: Stephen C. Lundin Ph.D., Harry Paul, John Christensen

Publication details: Hodder & Stoughton, 2006

Number of pages: 112 pages

One of your team members regrets not having become an actor. Another team member is bored with the tedious work and given a choice would love to become a cricket coach. As their manager is it possible for you to help them find passion, fun, and sense of pride, everyday in their work and feel “Thank God it’s Monday rather than Friday?” Yes! as per Fish!, a modern parable engineered to make you and your team enjoy your way to better productivity at the work place! The book teaches you that living your true potential is a choice that one can make every day.  Its unique formula addressing today's work issues including employee engagement and burnout will help you energise and enthuse your teams.

Book-Quote2.png

The book’s central character Mary Jane Ramirez was given the responsibility to turnaround the operations team that lacked energy, creativity, passion and good work ethics. For instance the team treated their customers as if the customers were interrupting them. During a chance visit by her to Seattle’s world famous Pike Place Fish Market, she observed that despite the mundane work, the fishmongers were cheerful, playful and enjoyed their work. The book tells the story of how Mary unravels the secret of their happiness and how her team adopts their four principles of choosing the attitude, playing at work, treating customers to make their day and being emotionally present for people to transform the operations department from a “toxic energy waste dump” to a place where people would vie to work in. Inspired by Mary’s teamher company had this inscribed at the entrance which also summarises the principles of this book... “As you enter this place of work please choose to make today a great day...Find ways to play. We can be serious about our work without being serious about ourselves. Stay focused in order to be present when your customers and team members most need you. And should you feel your energy lapsing, try this sure fire remedy: find someone who needs a helping hand, a word of support, or a good ear -- and make their day.”

The book demonstrates how the four principles can be implemented. For instance Mary’s team implemented ‘Choose Your Attitude’ by putting up an ‘attitude menu’ comprising items like ‘energetic’, ‘creative’, ‘supportive’ and ‘caring’ to serve as a constant reminder of ‘making the right choice’. Instead of playing like the fishmongers by having flying, smiling and talking fish the operation team implemented initiatives like joke of the month contest, turning small lights on when it is time to lighten up, posting signs saying “This is a playground. Watch out for adult children.” etc. There are also illustrations of consequences faced by people who were not working based on these principles. One of the characters describes how not being present for her colleague resulted in her colleague losing her job and the company losing a client and a lot of money.

Apart from the main principles Fish also illustrates other important success factors at work like not losing faith in oneself, learning and growing continuously, taking personal risks, not giving up on your team for you own career advancement and being persistent. These are again demonstrated through the numerous challenges faced by the central characters in the book. Throughout the book Mary exemplifies qualities of an ideal manager like implementing what she preaches, giving her team the adequate flexibility and authority to take decisions, being transparent about the problems, encouraging the team members to identify solutions rather than prescribing them herself etc.

If you loved “Who Moved My Cheese?” then undoubtedly you are going to love this book. It uses a deceptively simple and engaging story to convey its message. Take for instance the way the characters in the book describe the benefits of ‘Play’... “Happy people treat others well. Fun leads to creativity. The time passes quickly. Having a good time is healthy. Work becomes a reward and not just a way to rewards.” This book can serve as an excellent guide for creating energetic, enthusiastic, creative and effective teams with the key learnings highlighted in quick read boxes, supported by inspiring quotations like “Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle...Meaning is something you build into your life.”  And you don’t have to be a manager to benefit from reading this book; you can apply the lessons in the book in any aspect of your life in order to keep yourself excited about what you do.